Problem: $ E = \left[\begin{array}{rrr}4 & 0 & -2 \\ 0 & -1 & 1 \\ 1 & 3 & 1\end{array}\right]$ $ D = \left[\begin{array}{rr}-2 & -2 \\ -1 & 3\end{array}\right]$ Is $ E D$ defined?
Solution: In order for multiplication of two matrices to be defined, the two inner dimensions must be equal. If the two matrices have dimensions $( m \times  n)$ and $( p \times q)$ , then $ n$ (number of columns in the first matrix) must equal $ p$ (number of rows in the second matrix) for their product to be defined. How many columns does the first matrix, $ E$ , have? How many rows does the second matrix, $ D$ , have? Since $ E$ has a different number of columns (3) than $ D$ has rows (2), $ E D$ is not defined.